MBDiagMan

Thanks Hank!

Sorry Bridges, I am going to outbid you. I offer 16 cents.:)

Thanks Brown! I will try that on my next short jump.

Yes, the Musketeer is fixed gear. That picture could easily be a Sierra.

Congratulations! When I was in my final months overseas in 1971, my dream of what was waiting for me at home was a car. I can't imagine how great it is to be looking forward to an airplane. thanks for your service. Come home safe!

Hank, Thanks! I had forgotten about the ASI altitude correction. Having putt-putted around in a Cessna 140 over the years, speed is not something I have been calculating or concerned about. In fact with a Cessna 140, when you are thinking speed you are thinking about getting in the air and waiting for the Earth to rotate underneath. Anyway, I have not been running full rich, but have not been leaning while concentrating on EGT. This is something I need to start working on. I probably won't have any distance flights until after my vacation. I will start working on leaning scientifically then. I will begin using your recommended power settings next time I fly. Thanks very much for spoon feeding me. This is helping a lot. Your information will be easy to remember and apply. Everyone, Thanks to everyone for the excellent feedback here. It has helped me wrap my head around the variables involved and how they interact. You guys are great!

Welcome JR! I too am a new M20C caretaker. I have had her a little over a month now and have about 15 hours in her. When I was growing up, I had an Uncle who was a pumper and lived in Garden City. Spent a lot of time there as a kid.

In Al Mooneys biography he wrote about being invited back to metallize the M20. He was well established at Lockheed by then and declined the offer. The fact that Ralph Harmon did it instead, may be part of the metal Mooney success. I believe it was Harmon that had designed the V tail Doctor killer. He was very intent on providing an over designed structure because he did not want to have another structural weakness connected to his name. Al and Arts medium was wood. Their expertise is probably why the wood Mooneys have surpassed the practical life expectancy. Not to say that there haven't been any wood Mooney mishaps, but I don't think any of them are due to design or construction deficiency.

How does speed work out at higher altitudes. I have been disappointed with the speed of my Cmodel so far. I haven't worried about it yet because I am expecting better speed at higher altitudes where I can run higher power settings. I see 150MPH air speed at 23/25 ar 4,000 feet or so.

Jdawg, has your wood wing bird always been hangared? What sort of test and inspection is required in Canada for a wood wing plane?

I lived in Germany two years as a young Army Radar Repairman ca., 1969 to 1971. Then worked quite a lot in Western Europe in the early 2000's. Germany is my favorite country over there, but we will be making a pretty wide tour from Belgium through Germany to Prague, Vienna, Switzerland, Italy and the South of France. Looking forward to some good runs on the Autobahn among many other things. I have never been to Asia. That is a very unusual thing to be said by someone who was in the Army ca. 1958 to 1971.

I have owned and flown a Cessna for seven years before adding my Mooney to the fleet. When I get out of my excellent condition Cessna into the Mooney it is akin to getting out of an SUV with worn shocks and steering linkage and getting into a Ferrari. No comparison. In my experience, when you start asking the Mooney naysayers how much first hand Mooney experience they have, it is usually none, they know someone, they rode in one or very little first hand experience. Also, factor in the ladies position in the matter. She is faced with losing a renter. If you are considering buying a plane of ANY brand, the key is finding and buying the right example. There is no shortage of Money Pits for sale out there. Get one in proper condition with no corrosion or leaking fuel tanks. If you do your due diligence you can find a plane in good condition that, if maintained, will serve you well for many years.

I wonder how many 150 HP M20's were built?

Some great stuff in this thread! Thanks guys! Hank, I read nothing verbose at all. (Headed to Germany next week so I need to start getting verbose into my German vernacular.)

Thanks for the replies. I am learning from all of them. I have yet to go more than about 100NM in one trip, so I haven't bothered to go to higher altitudes yet. I go to Europe for three weeks beginning next week. I am planning on some long distance Mooney trips after that and will definitely be climbing out and trying her up where she is happy. please keep the replies coming. They are greatly appreciated!

I am brand new not only to my Mooney, but also to controllable pitch propellers. I am still trying to find my way to the best power settings. I printed and laminated the POH pages with climb and cruise settings, but I am really just experimenting at this point. So far I have flown with three basic settings; Takeoff, Everything Forward, after gear up, power back to 24/25 for climb out, Cruise 23/25. My goal is to find good speed and reasonable fuel economy without straining the engine. I feel like cruising at 23/25 at about 4,000' is easy on the engine, but I don't quite make it into the yellow with this power setting and a cleaned up plane. If anyone can point me toward any information taking into consideration engine health/speed/fuel economy and how the different parameters relate and interact I would be appreciative. I also would enjoy simply reading your own favorite power settings for different conditions.

I don't have that many aircraft in my logbook, but none of the ones that are in there handle rough air anything like the Mooney. The only exception might be my hour in a Bell 47. I have flown: Aeronca Champ, Cessna 140, 150, 172 & 180, Piper Archer, Bell 47 & M20C.

From where I sit the M20 and M20 A are historic aircraft. As I understand it these two models are the same except the A has 180HP. Al and Art were financially strapped and built the wood wing because it was cheap and they had lots of experience with wood design and manufacture. They were trying to get it certified in order to survive personal financial disaster and left Mooney the day it was certified. Many crazy circumstances got in their way as far as business success is concerned, but as far as the M20 design, I see it as a masterpiece. The twentieth design from a man with God given talent and no formal education. That said I have all the respect in the world for someone willing to fly a 55 + year old wood frame aircraft. I hope it has been hangared it's entire life. What a piece of aviation history! thanks for the pictures?

Al would be proud. This was his 20th design. By the time he got to this one, he knew a little about wood aircraft design and construction. If Al had not left on the day of type certification, I wonder how long they would have kept making them of wood.

I am leaving for a three week European vacation week after next. My Mooney mechanic is going to put it on jacks and inspect everything while I am gone. I really am not worried about it coming unlatched though. If it were sloppy fitting I don't think it would be difficult to get the bar out of the block. Also while the gear was up and I was flying today, I reached up in the block with my finger and did not feel any worn ridges or anything.

You're right Hank! I have always had a confidence problem and it showed up here. I still have some habits to develop and some things to get used to, but I am at a level of confidence, as well as adequate solo hours for insurance to allow passengers, that I will be giving my girlfriend a ride soon. Possibly tomorrow. She is as excited about it as I am. Thanks for following all this and for giving me encouragement and advice along the way. Many of you have helped greatly!

I rode some rough air again today as well as pulled off a Tailwheel landing in gusty and variable wind. This was another experience of changing between my C model and my Cessna 140 on the same day, experiencing the contrast. I needed to swap locations since my planes are at two different airports. I experienced more confidence in the Mooney in rough air as compared to the Cessna. I also landed the cessna taildragger on a 35 runway with a 300, 9 gusting to 20 and variable 280 to 40. I don't know how that combination can exist, but that is what AWOS was announcing. I was really proud of my tailwheel landing in those conditions.

Okay, my Mooney mechanic who used to fly a Johnson Bar Mooney quite a lot himself, told me to twist the handle when pressing the button. I had an important trip to Grand Prairie, underneath the DFW Bravo. I really needed to go because of my 93 year old Moms needs so did not want to wait for the mechanic to jack it up. I took off at 7AM this morning. Just off the runway after seeing positive rate of climb, I pushed the button and twisted the handle. Worked like a charm. Did it again when coming home. A benefit of the trip was being cleared into Bravo both ways and getting comfortable with doing that in the Mooney. I am getting more comfortable with the plane and with the 430 also. thanks for all your responses. My manual gear confidence is now extremely high. I LOVE my Mooney!

Has anyone tried twisting the handle while pushing the button? Would this help?

I just received mine in yesterday's mail. It is thinner material than I expected, but I am very pleased with it.